Those Never Found
by TheThoughtsofKarasu
Summary: "Attention citizens of Jump City: As of today, all metahumans must be reported to be detained for testing and interrogation. Please call 911 if you see a meta. Thank you." Visit a world where superheroes and supervillains don't exist. But this doesn't mean that people with superpowers don't exist... Romance, adventure, drama, friendship. T for language. Flinx and some others.
1. Alleyways

Hey there! Please check out my bio for information on my projects. I hope you enjoy this story, and please don't hesitate to leave a review!

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Chapter 1: Alleyways

_Attention citizens of Jump City: As of today, all metahumans must be reported to be detained for testing and interrogation. Please call 911 if you see a meta. Thank you._

* * *

**METAHUMANS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED!**

Over the past several weeks officials have been undercover to find the city's metahumans. As of yesterday, five have been discovered and identified. While none of them are in custody, officials have released their files which include name, ability, appearance, where they were last seen, and what to do if one encounters he/she.

* * *

The night was cold and uninviting. In the distance police sirens could be heard. Dogs barked at each other. The wind blew calmly, and the puddles on the ground reflected the full moon up above. The street was lined with tall buildings, mostly businesses and a few restaurants, which were all closed by now. This part of the city was mostly deserted at this time of the night, except for a few strays and rats. A cat trotted across the street, running behind a trashcan. Away from sight-though it wouldn't matter since no one was around anyway-the cat began to change. Its body began to take the form of a male human, with green skin and hair, pointed ears and a fang that stuck out from the bottom lip. He wore jeans and a sweatshirt, with a beanie covering most of his hair.

"It's all clear, Kory" the boy, who looked to be in his teenage years said to what seemed like no one.

From behind a trashcan, another person emerged. She looked about the same age as the boy, but was much taller in comparison. She had red hair and green eyes, and wore a pair of pants with a shirt and jacket. She looked normal, other than the fact that the whites of her eyes were green. The girl walked to the boy and they began walking out of the alley. They continued to walk forward, not saying a word, until they reached another alley. The boy stayed outside of the alley on the sidewalk, while the girl went into the alley, stopping next to a dumpster.

"It is safe to exit." she said to something near the dumpster. This time, two people rose from the side. A girl and a boy, who also looked to be in their adolescent years, joined the other two who waited outside the alley. The girl wore a sweatshirt and pants, with a hat covering most of her head. Under the streetlight, her gray skin and purple hair became noticeable. The boy, who was slightly taller than her, had black hair and fair skin, and wore a jacket over a blue shirt as well as jeans. The four teens walked together towards one more alley, where once again, they whispered to a dumpster and waited for their friend to show up. He was tall and had a muscular build, and wore jeans and a sweatshirt, as well as sunglasses, even though it was nighttime.

"I'm getting real tired of hiding behind dumpsters" the tall boy with the sunglasses-better known as Victor Stone-said to his friends while keeping his eyes forward.

"Me too. My back hurts from crouching all day" the green boy-Garfield Logan-replied.

"I also do not enjoy the hiding behind trashcans. It is quite hard to sit still all day" the red-headed girl, also known as Koriand'r, or Kory Anders, said. The boy with the black hair sighed to himself and looked down at the sidewalk.

"We don't have a choice. This is our only option."

"But can't we at least hide somewhere more comfortable?" Garfield asked.

"We can't hide anywhere else" the boy, Dick Grayson, replied.

"Dick has a point. We can't hide anywhere else without being noticed" the purple-haired girl, Rachel Roth, added. The group turned a corner, until they reached one more alley, where Rachel, Victor, Garfield, and Kory hid behind more trashcans and dumpsters. Dick continued forward, and went into a convenience store that was open 24 hours. He came back out later, with two bags filled with groceries. He went back into the alley where his friends waited.

"Bread, cereal, and granola bars again tonight. A couple water bottles should be in there too." Dick said to his four friends, who moaned and muttered collectively. He passed the bags around for his friends to take what they wanted.

"I'm getting tired of this too." Victor said as he opened the box of granola bars and started passing them around.

"You know we can't have anything else. We don't have utensils and this type of food lasts longer."

The five teens ate quietly and packed the remaining food in the plastic bags. They exited the alley and continued to walk. Few cars passed, and if they did the drivers hadn't seen their strange appearances. There was a construction site up ahead for a new museum, though it was far from done. The frame was complete, with the walls mostly put up as well, however finishing the roof as well as the interior of the building would take months to complete. The group walked past the building itself, and made its way towards the porta potties.

"Now this, I just can't stand" Victor complained.

"It's the only way we won't be found, unless you want to pee in a bush" Dick said, but also gagged when he opened the door.

"We really need to find someplace to stay. Living like this sucks" Garfield said as they went back to the alleyways. There was an apartment building with stairways on the outside, which the group climbed up to the top.

"Well get used to it, I doubt we'll find a safe city anytime soon" Dick replied as he took off his jacket and rolled it up into a pillow.

Rachel pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up and said quietly, "I doubt we'll find a safe city ever."

* * *

In the early hours of the morning, the teens awoke. They groaned from the pain of sleeping on the hard surface of the rooftop, and went back down to the ground the same way they came up.

"Vic and Kory, you two stick together today. Gar, Rachel, and I can be on our own. I'll see you guys again tonight, and Gar, you're in charge of scoping out the neighborhood." Dick waved to his friends and went down another street into his assigned alleyway. Victor, Kory, and Rachel went to their assigned locations as well. As Garfield was on his own walking down the street, he kept his head down and his hood up to cover his green skin and hair.

_Remember what Dick said, keep your head down and try not to get noticed. If I just don't draw attention to myself, I'll make it to the alley just fine._

This was a conversation Garfield had a lot with himself. He had it everyday, while walking to the alley. The other four as well as himself had had a scare numerous times, either by a person pointing out their strange features, or someone recognizing them from the newspaper. The citizens in Jump City were pretty jumpy when it came to people who were different. Or in Garfield and his friends' case-metahumans.

It was the same as discrimination against a religion, race, or gender, but no one realized it, except for the metahumans- metas, as they were called in short. It wasn't that metas weren't allowed to do certain things or had rules that only applied to them; it was the way they were looked at. Whenever a metahuman entered a store or a restaurant, they were stared at, pointed at, and sometimes people even threw things at them, spit at them, or shouted profanities at them. This wasn't anything new in the world-it had been going on since the first metahumans were born. People weren't belittling them out of hatred, they were belittling them out of fear. They knew the metahumans had special abilities, which made them capable of hurting a regular human easily. Some of them did commit crimes, and turn to the side of evil, making a bad name for all the rest who didn't abuse their powers and laid low. Because of this, there was now a law that all metahumans must be turned in to be tested on, now making it impossible for them to be in public at all.

There were a few exceptions for metas. Dick Grayson, for example, had no metahuman abilities. He was, however, more intelligent and far more clever than most people, making him fall into the metahuman category. He also had certain skills such as being a fantastic gymnast, and his reflexes were almost thought to be psychic abilities.

The five teens had been living in several places throughout their time of knowing each other. There was a young couple that sympathized them, and gave them clothes, food, and water, however they eventually moved when they had gotten a job offer in another state. Another time, the group had lived in an abandoned warehouse, but they soon had to leave as it was going to be torn down and replaced by a shopping mall.

The only people around at this hour were early morning runners or employees with early shifts, but they still worried. One time two women who were going for a morning run had noticed some of Rachel's hair sticking out of her hood. Luckily, they assumed it to be dyed. Another time a man walking his dog had given Victor a funny look when he noticed a red light shining through his sunglasses. He dismissed it as merely being a strange reflection of the sun. Garfield however, had it the worst. His green skin was nearly impossible to hide, so he had to hurry to his assigned alleyway. When he was a few feet from it, he would slow down to make it seem casual that a boy was walking into an alleyway that had nothing but a few garbage cans and a dumpster in it.

Garfield sat crossed legged at the side of a dumpster, leaning his head against the brick wall behind him. He sighed and stared at the sky, listening to the city begin to liven up. The traffic started to get louder as people started driving to work. He started seeing shadows of people walking past the alley, and heard people chatting. He sighed and closed his eyes to sleep.

When Garfield awoke, it was sunset. He shifted a little to try and get more comfortable, and waited for the sun to go down and the streets to become empty. When the moon was up and most activity on the streets came to a standstill, he got up from his sitting position. He tried transforming into a cat, and when that didn't work, he tried turning into a dog, which also failed. He tried turning into other animals, such as a fly, rat, or bird, but to no avail. The group had only been doing this routine for a few weeks, and before then they had barely used their powers. Because of this, Garfield could not always exit the alley in a disguise, but have to scope out the streets in human form.

He left the alley and walked towards the one Rachel would be hiding in. He kept his eyes down at the ground, with his hands in his pockets. He didn't notice what was going on around him until he heard the voices of teenage boys and girls. He looked up and saw a group of them, about five or so, leaning against a wall chatting casually. He looked down again, only to look up when they noticed him.

"Did you see that? That guy had green skin."

"That's nasty."

"He must be a meta."

"Wonder what kind of weird shit he can do." The teenagers laughed slightly, trying to make sure Garfield didn't hear them. He considered himself lucky that the people who spotted him didn't bother calling the cops. He got to the alley where Rachel was waiting, and found her asleep with her head leaning against the wall. He chuckled slightly to himself and nudged her with his foot.

"Coast is clear Rae" he said as she stood up slowly, still hardly awake.

"I'm going to go get Victor and Kory, you can find Dick and meet us at the corner" Rachel said and started walking away.

* * *

"We still have enough food for tonight right Dick?" Garfield said to his friend as they walked side by side to the corner where they were supposed to meet the others.

"We should be fine for the next day or two."

They continued to walk in silence until they got to an intersection where they had to cross the street. There were several cars out, and the boys watched as they drove by. Two boys walked from behind them and joined in waiting for the light to indicate that pedestrians could cross. They were both carrying grocery bags, two on each arm. One of them had orange looking hair, the other had bright ketchup red hair. The boy with bright red hair started looking around as he waited for the light to change, then appeared to catch a glimpse of Garfield. He furrowed his brow in confusion for a moment, then elbowed his friend in the arm and nodded towards the green teen. When his friend saw what his friend was referring to he cocked his head to the side in thought, but was interrupted by the light beeping and the three other boys beginning to cross the street. Garfield and Dick turned right after they got across, but the other two boys continued straightforward.

"Roy, did you see that? That kid had green skin!" said the ketchup haired boy, Wally West.

"Yeah, I think he was in the paper with the pictures of metahumans to look out for."

"Can't believe we never noticed him before. I mean, he has _green_ _skin. _You'd think we would've spotted that."

"Did you recognize his friend? I didn't get a good look at him. He could be a meta too."

"I only saw that he had black hair and pale skin. But otherwise he didn't look familiar."

"He's probably helping the green guy out. Must be sympathetic to metas." They continued down the street, until they came upon some apartment buildings with fences in between them. The ketchup haired boy put his grocery bags down, looking around cautiously before vibrating his molecules and walking through the fence. Once on the other side, Roy began handing the bags to him over the fence, then climbed over it himself. They picked up their bags and walked down the alleyway until they came across a basement door. It was locked from the inside, so Roy knocked nine times in a specific rhythm until it opened.

The boys walked down the stairs and were greeted by their friends. After setting down the food and letting the others begin eating, Roy and Wally pulled one of their friends aside. She had black hair and dark skin, as well as wings on her back.

"Karen, we saw another meta on the way back home. I think he was in the paper" Wally said to the group's leader.

"There was someone with him but we couldn't get a good look at him to tell whether or not he was from the article too" Roy added.

"They only found five so far right? None of us have been discovered yet, so this must mean there are other metas out there that need help" Wally cut back in.

"We aren't taking in any more people, the place is packed as it is. I don't want to risk any of you being found" Karen said sternly.

"That's what you said last time. Then we found Joey" Roy said, causing Karen's expression to soften at the memory of the sweet boy looking pleadingly at her to let him stay.

"Be on the lookout for them."

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Thank you for reading, and I hope I can post the next chapter soon. Tell me what you think!


	2. Pink Fury

First I'd like to thank everyone for supporting the story. Secondly, I'd like to apologize for this chapter is a bit short. Updates unfortunately will be awfully slow. I'm thinking of instead writing slightly shorter chapters (say, one thousand to two thousand words) so hopefully updates are not too far apart. I don't know about you guys, but for me, when a story I'm reading that hasn't been updated in a long time is updated, I find it harder to remember what had last happened. Alright, here's the next chapter.

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Chapter 2: Pink Fury

Wally walked casually down the street, avoiding eye contact with anyone. He strolled along the shops, on his way to the convenience store to buy a few things for the hideout. Out of everyone in the group, he was one of the few who looked normal and could easily escape if things did get out of hand.

As he reached the store, he was surprised at what he saw. The alarms were blaring, and outside there was a kid-no, several kids who all looked exactly the same-standing guard. It appeared to be a robbery, and people were running away and many stayed a safe distance away, wanting to watch what happened but not get mixed up in the situation. The wall of identical guards started merging together, until only one remained. Exiting the store was a teenage boy wearing a green helmet with one big eye on it. Following him was another boy wearing a cape and horn-shaped cowl. They both carried bags of money, and huddled together with their other friend. The boy with the cowl threw his cape around them, and they all disappeared.

By now the police had arrived, however too late to stop the robbers. While he was glad that the police were there to handle the problem, being around police always made Wally wary, the danger of being discovered always getting to him. He sighed and began walking to the next closest convenience store. His gaze was fixed on the ground most of the way, until he was bumped into and knocked over.

"Ow," he said, rubbing his head and sitting up. He looked at who he bumped into and offered a hand to help her up, but she was already up, brushing off her skirt.

"Watch where you're going moron!" she yelled, as she looked back towards the convenience store that had just been robbed.

"Sorry, but I don't recall it being my fault since you ran into me" he defended. She simply rolled her eyes and kept eying the convenience store. She looked at a hexagon shaped device in her hand and muttered under her breath "Idiots."

"Okay, I get it!" Wally said, throwing his hands up.

"Not you, you idiot," she started walking away, and Wally continued walking towards the other convenience store, which happened to be the same direction she was going in. He was walking next to her, though trying to avoid looking at her.

"Do you mind?" she snapped.

"I have to go this way anyways."

"Whatever" she started walking faster, which compared to Wally wasn't all that fast. Though he let her pass him so as not to cause more drama.

They reached an intersection and waited to cross. Under the streetlight, Wally was able to get a better look at the girl. She was wearing a jacket over a shirt and pants, as well as a hat that covered her hair. There were several loose strands, and Wally was sure he saw that they were pink. Not only was her hair pink, but he noticed that when she looked up momentarily, her eyes were pink and cat-like. And to top it all off, her skin was gray. His first assumption was that she was also a meta, which led to questions such as 'Why haven't we seen her before?' and 'Where is she going when our hideout is the only one?'. He dismissed these thoughts though, since he didn't _know_ if theirs was the only hideout. The light changed and he crossed, though was separated from the pink-haired girl when she stopped to cross the street again, and he continued forward. She clouded his mind for the remainder of the night. It wasn't the fact that she was a meta that intrigued him, it was the fact that there was a possibility of another group of metas besides them in the city.

* * *

"You imbeciles left me there at the store! I was almost caught because of you morons!" Jinx yelled at her teammates.

"We thought you would want us to leave without you so we could escape with the loot" See-More said.

"Why would I want you guys to _leave me alone_ right when the cops are about to show up?!" she fumed.

"I-we-uh..."

"Just forget it! And don't let it happen again!" Just then the door burst open, and in walked Mammoth and Gizmo. They were smiling maniacally, a clear sign that their own mission went successfully. However when they saw a pissed off Jinx, their smiles faded and they quickly tossed their loot into the pile and sat quietly. Instead of giving them all Hell, as she normally would, Jinx simply sighed and left the room.

She walked on the sidewalk with her gaze fixed downwards. It was times like these when she needed to get away from her incompetent roomies. It was already the second time this week that the police had almost caught her in a heist. She looked up when she noticed how quiet it had gotten. Noticing that all the buildings around her were closed, she smirked. Across the street from her, was a museum. More specifically, the museum that had the so-called "lucky" amulet. She had seen ads for the exhibit in the newpaper and it immediately caught her eye. She looked around, making sure no one was nearby, before running across the street. A simple hex broke the lock on the door and she made her way in. Another hex broke the security system.

Wally was walking down the street, carrying grocery bags. The street was deserted, all the buildings around him closed. He passed the museum, but stopped when he realized that the door was open. He put the bags down, and walked back to the front door of the museum. There was a light on. He cautiously walked inside, finding a few broken security cameras on the floor. He saw several rows of lights leading to another hall, then another exhibit room. There were three security guards passed out on the ground. He looked around and to his shock found the pink-haired girl from earlier, holding the lucky amulet he had read about in the newspaper.

His mind was conflicted with what options he had. He could definitely stop her, and most likely get away with it. Though he hadn't used his speed in a long time, he knew he could still probably get the job done without any-or at least very few-mishaps. He knew he should probably call the police and even started making his way out of the museum to look for a police station or phone booth. He froze when it occurred to him that the police would most likely ask him what he was doing going grocery shopping this late at night, as well as ask him other questions that could lead to him being discovered as a meta. He sighed and went back to where the girl was. He took a deep breath then made a run for it. He started off by taking the necklace from her and putting it back in its display case. He then ran past her, knocking her down. He continued running, and looked back to see that he didn't hurt her too much but still caught her off-guard. This caused him to also be caught off-guard, because when he was looking back he didn't see a puddle of water. He slipped and fell on his back.

After recovering from the blow of being knocked over, Jinx got up and went to the boy. She was filled with mixed emotions. Most of her was pissed off, part of her was scared, and part of her was simply confused. Her eyes widened when she saw that the boy on the floor was the boy from earlier. She made a run for it, jumping over the guards and broken security cameras.

Wally was petrified. She had clearly gotten a good look at his face, and knew he was a meta. He sighed and left the museum, taking the grocery bags with him. He would have looked for the girl, but she was already out of sight. He walked back to the base, contemplating on whether or not to tell Karen about his encounter.

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Yes, I know, it's terribly short. I'm kind of mad at myself for posting such a short chapter. Thing is, if I continued, it probably would've ended up being way too long. Thank you for reading.


	3. Invitation

Hello dear readers! So this update is coming a lot faster than I thought it would, so I'm not sure if I should be worried or happy. Once again thank you for your support and enjoy this next chapter.

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Chapter 3: Invitation

Garfield was walking down the street in the early morning, on his way to his assigned alleyway. The sun was already up, and once again the streets weren't crowded, the only people in sight being people with early shifts or joggers. He was almost at the alley when he was stopped. He looked up to see a boy who had bright red hair, and looked very familiar.

"Hey it's you!" he said as if they were good friends who hadn't seen each other in awhile.

"I don't know you, I think you have the wrong guy" Garfield replied, looking down and quickly walking past him until he walked into him again.

"Ow, you're fast."

"Uh yeah you could say that" the boy replied sheepishly. He extended his hand to Garfield saying "Name's Wally West, and you are?"

Garfield tentatively shook his hand. "Garfield Logan, people call me Gar for short" and once again Garfield tried to walk away from the boy, who had once again caught up and moved in front of him at remarkable speed.

"How do you-"

"I'll tell you if you can answer a question for me," Wally interrupted.

"Fair enough," Garfield said hesitantly.

"Are you a meta?"

Garfield's eyes widened, which Wally noticed.

"It's okay if you are, I am too" he added.

Garfield nodded very slowly, almost afraid of what this stranger would do.

"Where are you staying? Are you with another group of metas?"

His mind was conflicted. He had just met this guy, and had just answered one of the most dangerous questions. Not only that, but this stranger had answered it too. His human mind told him to run away. Though his animal instincts told him that it was safe to answer.

"I have four other friends who are metas. We hide in alleys all day and on the rooftops at night."

"Where are your other friends?" Wally asked. He spoke in a gentle tone, for he was aware that this was a sensitive subject for any metahuman.

"Probably in their alleyway by now. We hide separately so there's not as big of a chance at getting caught," Gar replied, his tone softening as well. Just then another thought occurred to him, "Where do you stay? I didn't know there were any other metas in the city."

"I live with a group of metas, in an old basement for one of the apartment buildings. My friend and I saw you and your friend a few days ago, and our group has agreed to take you in. That is, if you're interested."

"I don't know, I'd have to talk to my friends about it first."

Wally nodded and added, "Why don't we meet here tonight at ten? You can bring all of your friends and we can talk about you guys moving in."

"Sounds like a plan I guess."

"Alright, see you later," Wally nodded again and walked away. The streets had crowded up a bit more since they first bumped into each other, and Garfield continued to his alleyway.

* * *

Wally carried on walking to the hideout. He had gone out to buy the newspaper, which they all read daily so they knew what was going on outside of their home. Most of the people in the group hadn't been outside in weeks, due to their looking too abnormal to walk around unnoticed.

While he felt bad that lots of the group was confined in the safety of the basement, he admitted to himself that his looking normal was a blessing. He couldn't imagine a life constantly staying in one place. He did have to be careful not to accidentally use his speed out in public, which could be difficult since he didn't have much practice-and therefore didn't have much control of it.

As he was nearing the hideout he saw piles of money scattered on the ground. He looked around and found the pink-haired girl standing next to a broken ATM, filling a bag with money.

Wally once again found himself in a bad position. He could either find a police officer to stop her, or stop her himself. Finding a police officer would take too long, given that he couldn't speed around the city to find one. Or rather, he could, however he had never used his speed for a long time or a big distance. And by the time he got back with the police she would probably be gone. He sighed and looked around to make sure no one would see. He began super speeding, first taking the bag from her and setting it aside, then pinning her to a wall so she couldn't escape.

Her eyes were wide with shock and confusion over what had just happened.

"What the hell was that?!" she shrieked. Wally had to remove one of his hands from her wrists and put it over her mouth to quiet her.

"Not so loud, someone could catch us."

She narrowed her eyes at him, saying, "Why are you always around to screw things up?

"Guess you just have a case of bad luck"

She rolled her eyes at the irony of his joke.

"Can you let go now?" she asked.

"If you plan to keep stealing, then no," Wally said, tightening his grip on her wrists.

"Why's it any of your business what I do? You don't know me," she retorted.

Wally let go of her wrists and extended his hand to her, introducing himself to a stranger for the second time that day.

"Hi. I'm Wally. And you are?"

"Annoyed," she said and started walking away. He used his speed to catch up and move in front of her, once again extending his hand. She tried walking away from him again, this time walking right into him. He still had his hand out, waiting for her to shake it and introduce herself.

"Jinx," she said, finally giving in and shaking his hand.

"Great, now we know each other, and it's my business to know why you're stealing."

"Look _Wally_, you don't need to know. It doesn't concern you. Can you please just let me go now?"

"No _Jinx. _It does concern me, because I've stopped you from stealing twice. I deserve to know what I'm stopping."

Before Jinx could reply they both heard police sirens coming towards them. She looked again at the boy in front of her before running towards the building, jumping on tables and railings before getting to the roof. She looked down at him again before continuing on, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Wally groaned in frustration before walking away from the building.

* * *

"Karen, I found the meta I told you about. I'm gonna meet up with him and his friends later tonight to discuss them staying here."

Karen sighed and put down the newspaper she was reading. She looked at Wally, her longtime friend and roommate.

"I don't know how I feel about letting five other people live here, the hideout is crowded as is. And I've never met them, how do we know they aren't dangerous?"

"Karen, everyone in this hideout is dangerous to some degree," Wally pointed out.

"You make a good point, but we don't know these people. What if they're criminals running from the cops?"

"You worry too much. Besides, most of the people living here now were people we barely knew and look how that turned out. We're all friends. Some of us more than that," Wally said with a smirk as he turned to look at Isaiah and Toni holding hands and talking.

"I don't know, Wally," Karen said, deep in thought.

"Karen, these people are living in alleyways and on rooftops. They could get caught at any moment. You remember where we found Joey?"

Karen rolled her eyes but smiled as Wally had once again brought up Joey, the most recent addition to their group. They had found him hiding at the park one night, looking very thin and tired. He had been all alone for three months. When he first started living with them he was very timid and kept to himself, feeling greedy that he was using their resources and not returning the favor. However, after a few weeks, he started warming up to the people there and was now more friendly with the group.

"Why don't you come with me to meet them tonight? You're the leader anyways, you should get to decide yourself whether or not they can stay."

Sighing again, Karen answered, "Fine."

* * *

"This is a bad idea. You barely know the guy!" Dick said, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I know that! But he offered a place for all of us to stay! And he admitted to being a meta. It can't hurt to at least find out more about this place," Garfield defended.

Two people walked over to their group; Wally, along with a girl wearing a long loose dress-which was really meant to cover her wings.

Wally was the first to speak, "Hey Gar, this is Karen Beecher. She's sorta the leader of our group."

Karen put on her best smile, which betrayed the uncertainty in her mind.

Since none of his friends were going to step up, Garfield took over and began introducing themselves.

"Um, this is Dick Grayson, he's sorta our leader, heh. And um, this is Victor Stone-"

"Call me Vic," Victor cut in.

"Right, and uh, this is Rachel Roth, and Kory Anders, and I'm Garfield Logan."

Karen finally took over and began explaining their hideout.

"Our hideout is the basement of the old apartment building, the one that closed down a few years ago. There's twelve of us living there already, so it's pretty crowded, but we're willing to make it work for you guys. We've been able to renovate the basement a bit, so there are sections instead of it all being one big room. The basement itself is pretty big, but of course like I said there's a lot of people living there. We've found old furniture and cleaned up the place as best we could."

Dick suddenly asked, "Where do you get things like food and water?"

"We normally send Wally or someone else out once a week to go to the grocery store"

Behind his sunglasses, Dick narrowed his eyes and asked, "How do you pay for it?"

Wally answered this time, "We sold some of the old things that were in the basement. We also sold any valuables we had. And those of us who look normal have a few simple jobs."

Though he wouldn't admit it, Dick was impressed. He didn't think that these strangers would have an organized and well thought out system.

"Well, it wouldn't be fair of us to live with you and do nothing in return. I can find a way to earn money and contribute," Dick offered.

Kory stepped up and touched his shoulder, reminding him, "But your picture is in the paper. You will be arrested if you are seen in public."

Karen replied, "We have ways of disguising you. Hair dyes, colored contacts, those should be able to make you look different enough so no one will catch you."

Wally stepped forward, finally saying, "So, do you guys need time to pack your stuff?"

"We don't have anything except what we're wearing."

Karen smiled, "Then follow us."

* * *

I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I don't think it's awful but it's not my favorite so far. Anyways thanks once again for reading!


	4. Introductions and Bad News

Hello dear readers, another day another chapter. Once again thanks for supporting the story and I hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 4: Introductions and Bad News

The seven teens had all climbed the fence, and were waiting for the basement door to be unlocked. The combination had been performed and demonstrated to the new members, and soon the doors burst open to reveal a small staircase. They descended down, and were greeted by ten anxious people.

The basement had clearly been transformed from its original state. As Karen had said, the room had been separated into sections, using various things such as boxes and furniture to serve as the dividers. While it wasn't a palace, the hideout did look well kept and comfortable enough to be a good home. For the five new members, it certainly was a step up from sleeping on rooftops and hiding behind dumpsters.

Karen clapped her hands together and began the long task of introducing everyone, gesturing to each person as she said their name. "Everybody, these are our new members, Rachel, Garfield, Victor, Dick, and Kory."

She then turned to the five and gestured for them to follow her. "I'm gonna give them all the grand tour, carry on with whatever you were doing and I'll introduce you as we go." And with that the ten members disbanded, going off to continue with their night.

Karen began walking throughout the hideout, pointing out various things and explaining in more detail the system with which they ran their home.

"This is the living room slash kitchen. We don't have electricity, but we've found a way to work around it," she nodded towards a boy in the kitchen, who had fire for flesh. A girl standing next to him held a pot in her hands, and held it in front of the boy. His hands generated fire, and he held them under the pot, cooking the contents inside. "Isaiah pretty much does all the cooking for us. You can probably guess why. And the girl with him is Toni."

They walked towards the living room section, where they saw two young boys playing a board game, with several older kids watching. Karen laughed when the young boys started arguing in Spanish, and the spectators of their game tried calming them down.

"The twins there are Mas Y Menos, they have super speed when they're in physical contact with each other. And those people watching them are Joseph, or Joey, Kole, Gnarrk, Roy, Mal, and Garth," she said, pointing to the person when she said their name.

They had reached the section where the bedrooms were, when Karen said, "These are the bedrooms. There's only two, a girls section and a boys section," she pointed to a paper taped on the wall, "we have a chores schedule, to make sure everyone contributes. I'll make a new one with your names on it. The bathroom is over there, next to the boys bedroom section. The water pipes are still here, and there are even some that run throughout the entire city below this hideout. Garth has hydrokinesis, so he can take some of the clean water from the pipes."

"That pretty much covers the tour. I'll let you guys look around some more," she said as she walked away, taking the chore schedule with her.

Dick looked at his friends, who all had unreadable looks.

"Well guys, guess this is our new home."

* * *

The wooden doors with faded color and rusted metal opened with a creak. Out from its depths came Wally, out to get the newspaper again. He shut the doors quietly, and walked to the fence. Attached to the fence however, was a small slip of paper. He took it off the fence and read its contents.

_Meet me in the alley next to the cafe. -Jinx_

Wally had yet to tell anyone about his encounters with the teenage thief. He contemplated on whether or not it was a good idea for him to go, still not sure if this girl hated his guts or was simply annoyed with him. Curiosity won the battle, and Wally began walking towards the cafe.

Once there, he nonchalantly slipped into the alleyway, looking for Jinx. He didn't hear the girl walk up from behind him, a trashcan lid in her hands, and before he knew it the rusty lid had collided with his head, knocking him out.

When Wally awoke he was in an unfamiliar location. He was tied up by ropes, in the middle of a gray room. There was a table and chairs to one side, along with a stove and refrigerator. On the other side of the room there was a worn out couch. In front of him was another table, surrounded by several people, one of which was Jinx.

"We should see what makes him tick!"

"Let's make him work for us!"

"We can force him to steal so we never get caught!"

"We aren't doing any of that! I told you, if we turn him in, they'll pay us. He could be worth a fortune!"

"That's no fun."

"I'm turning him in and that's final! All of you get out!"

The five boys who were surrounding the table left the room, leaving only Jinx and Wally. She sighed and turned around, seeing that he was awake.

"Good, you're alive," she said looking at him. She took out her hexagon shaped device and began pressing the buttons, looking at a sheet of paper a few times.

"What are you doing?" Wally finally asked.

"Turning you in," she said, still focused on what she was doing.

"Wait _what_? Why?"

Jinx sighed and walked up to him, dangling the sheet of paper in front of his face. It was a newspaper article that read:

_Cash rewards will be given to those who turn in metahumans. Please note that the reward amount depends on the metahuman's abilities and how much he/she is worth. To turn in a metahuman, call the number below to schedule an appointment with one of our researchers, to find out payment and have the metahuman tested._

"You don't want to do this. What did I ever do to you?" Wally pleaded.

"You got in my way. Because of you I was almost caught by the cops several times. And my group needs the money."

"How exactly do you expect to turn me in without getting your group caught?" Wally asked, noticing the flaw in her plan.

"Simple. I'll send one of them out to do it. A few of them look normal enough," she said, nodding her head towards the direction of where her group just left.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? No offense, but those guys don't seem too bright."

Wally had to keep from laughing when Jinx's confident demeanor was replace with one of annoyance. Then he continued on, "The researcher will probably have a lot of questions for your friend. How he found me, what my powers are. Probably a bunch of information about himself too. Name, age, residence, but they can handle that, right? It's not like this is some secret lair that no one is supposed to know about," he said and smiled at her, knowing he had won this battle.

Jinx walked behind Wally, who couldn't see what she was doing since he was still tied up and couldn't move. He heard rummaging and clanking of metal, until suddenly he was once again knocked out, by another trashcan lid.

When Wally woke up he was in the alleyway he was told to meet Jinx at earlier that morning. It was now midday, the streets lined with cars and the sidewalks with pedestrians. He got up and stretched his sore muscles, finding a note taped to his shirt in the process.

_Tell anyone about my group or our hideout and I will hunt you down. -Jinx_

Though he wanted to laugh, a part of him said that she wasn't joking. He folded the note and put it in his pocket. He remembered that he was supposed to be getting the newspaper, and slapped his forehead when he thought of how he would have to explain his taking forever to Karen.

* * *

"Where were you?!" Karen yelled at Wally as he entered the base.

"Getting the paper," he answered pathetically.

"Well what took you so long?"

"I was just taking a walk," he said, unfolding the paper and looking for the article Jinx had showed him earlier.

"You might wanna take a look at this," he said, handing her the paper. She quickly read through it, then threw the paper down on the table in anger, catching the attention of everyone else.

"Just great! Now there's a prize for anyone who catches us. We're some kind of game to them! We're their prey!" she said, sitting down and massaging her temples. She looked up at all her confused friends, handing the paper to Roy, who read through it and then explained it to the rest of the group, "Apparently when you turn in a meta you get paid. They weren't getting any submissions so now they have to bribe people."

There were various reactions throughout the room. Some people looked angry, horrified, or simply scared. Wally noticed the reactions and stepped in, saying, "The good news is that they can't kill us. They aren't after our heads. But if we're turned in, who knows what could happen."

Karen finally stood up, dismissing the group by saying, "Just lay low, and we'll be fine."

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Who noticed the references to the episode "Lightspeed"? Thanks for reading!


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